Mom?
by otherrealmwriter
Summary: An all grown up Dib after beliving for 40 years his mom died when he was 2 is reunited with his long lost mother and learns his father lied to him about the fate of the woman he admired in life
1. prologe

I don't own Invader Zim okay?

April 1991 

Dib was playing with one of his father's inventions in his room. Baby Gaz sat there sucking her thumb. Dib was going to be two in November and Gaz's first birthday was in December. All along the walls were murals similar to the ones in Penelope Membrane's pediatrics office. Then Dib stuck his finger in the wrong spot and...

"Mommy!" Dib wailed as the charger for a cell phone as small as a credit card shocked Dib

"Dibby what did Mommy say about playing with Daddy's inventions?" Penelope said.

"Sawee (little kid sorry)" Dib said looking up at his mother with the same amber eyes she had.

"That's okay. Time for bed." Penelope said scooping up Dib and tucking him in.

"Sing me my bedtime song Mommy!" Dib said

"The toes are connected to the feet the feet are connected to the legs the legs are connected to the- here's the tricky part" and Dib fell fast asleep. After Penelope put Gaz to bed, she took Professor Membrane his invention

"Seriously Thaddeus who needs a cell phone this small?" Penelope asked.

"Nonsense! This'll change the world! And don't call me Thaddeus it's T.J.!"

"Fine if you stop calling me Penny I will. Can you do something to make my job easier? Like something about immunizations? That's the hardest part." She said resting her thick violet hair on Professor Membrane's arm. It fell much more easily than Gaz's did and it was a lighter shade.

"By the way Penn-Penelope Mr. Burns called." Professor Membrane said

"What?!!?" Penelope demanded.

"Iraq might go after Kuwait again and the Pentagon wants me to design some secret military technology up to chemical and germ warfare if it gets used on the US"

Professor Membrane said. "Mr. Burns is funding a lot of this."

"Hell no Thaddeus! That's immoral. If there is one secular thing you should have learned from your pastor father its ethics!" Penelope said

"But we'll be paid a lot and you can develop the antidotes and..." Professor Membrane pleaded. Even though his job was a civilian scientist he always kind of wanted to be a military scientist. Now was his chance and part of him wasn't going to let his pediatrician wife stand in his way.

"Money or not it's still immoral. You're planning to do something unethical I will have no part of! You can sleep on the couch tonight!" Penelope said

This fight led to a horrific lie that would mess Dib and Gaz up for life.


	2. Chapter 1 June 6th

I don't own Invader Zim okay? Only Serena Suzee and Langdon are mine

June 2031 

" The 6th will be the 40th anniversary of my mom's death. I just wish I told her how much I loved her! The last thing I told her was 'The femur is connected to the pelvis' my mom was a doctor and I wanted to show her what I learned." Dib sobbed looking at the calendar.

"Dibby I'm sure your mom would be proud of you today. You defeated the Irken Empire; you're a world renound paranormal investigator. To tell you the truth, I've always believed your mom's soul was watching over you since she died." Dib's wife Serena said.

"But her life had so much potential! She was a gifted pediatrician who used my dad's labs to develop cures for chicken pox, Autism, peanut allergies and ways to heal cuts that'd need stitches in seconds!" Dib looked at Serena with tears. She was the mother to Suzee and Langdon that Dib wanted growing up. June 6th was a day that'd live in infamy in Dib's mind. He was only 1 and a half when it happened but he remembered it so clear.

"I'm sorry Professor Membrane but there's nothing more we can do. Penelope was shot and the bullet split up in her body. One of the shards tore a hole in her heart and punctured her left lung. Had the bullet stayed in one piece we might have been able to save her but it caused extensive damage to her heart and she died minutes after arriving. I'm sorry," The trauma surgeon said.

"But is there anything I can do? I loved her!" Professor Membrane said crying.

"I can only say let her go. It might become an unhealthy obsession if you don't" The trauma surgeon said.

"Is Mommy alwight? Will she be able to sing me my bedtime song again?" Dib asked tears in his amber eyes. Little Dib was scared and confused at the same time

"I'm sorry your mommy is an angel now." The trauma surgeon said. Both Dib and Gaz cried at the news.

"Look I believe that the ones who love us never really leave us. You can find them in your heart. I know you only knew her 2 years but she's watching over you. As long as you remember her she never left you. She was with you your whole life. You were never alone. Gaz just was a case that couldn't accept that or anger consumed her at everyone who couldn't do anything." Serena knew how to cheer up Dib. She had to do it each of the 16 years they were married.

"Thanks Serene" Dib said kissing his wife. He looked at her long red hair, bright green eyes, thin face and slender figure with a new respect. In there was the soul of a mother, a person with an unconditional love. That was what he loved about her.

"What is it Simons?" Dib asked answering his cell phone the size of a credit card.

"ZIM HAS ESCAPED!" Simons said. " We don't know how sir. The only way the containment chamber could be opened was with Membrane DNA!"

"Actually I programmed it to _my_ DNA so my father, sister and children even though they have similar gene codes couldn't open it!" Dib yelled to the phone "I'll be in the lab as soon as possible!" Dib turned to Serena " I might be late tonight don't wait up. I love you see you." Dib didn't believe in saying good bye-that was permanent. See you meant you would see them again

"I love you Dib" Serena said hugging him. Then Dib ran to his car and drove downtown.

"Simons I need to see the security tape" Dib demanded and watched it closely as he replayed it. " The figure at the DNA scanner is feminine most likely a girl. About 5'7" to 5'9"" Simons said writing down all Dib said "HOLD IT! IT'S GAZ!!!!" Dib yelled at the part where she put one of Dib's teeth she punched out in front of the scanner, her pointy violet hair stuck out. He hated having to apprehend his own sister, he cared so much, but she couldn't keep seeing Zim.

" Don't worry I know where they 'd be" Dib said. The company where Gaz was a game programmer was having a mandatory litter clean up by the falls near the dam for a good image booster.

Dib drove to the top of the falls near the dam and pulled a dummy of himself out of the trunk " Time for that $777 to pay off" he said to himself. Frankly he wasn't sure how this'd work out.

"Dib-stink get down from there!" Zim yelled. " I can't get my revenge for the decade you kept me imprisoned! If Gaz hadn't tricked your daughter into telling her how to free me I'd still be there!"

"We'll have a talk about tricks Suzee" Dib said to himself then yelled "Zim you'll pay for seducing my sister!" and made the dummy look like he was going over the falls.

"Oh no he's going over the falls!" Iggins said

"Oh good he caught that branch." Gaz said when the dummy snagged a twig

"Oh no the branch broke off!" Iggins said

"Oh good! He can grab those filthy Earth rocks!" Zim said as the dummy floated through a patch of rocks.

"Oh no they broke his arms and legs!" Iggins said.

"Oh good those beavers are swimming out to save him." Gaz said nonchalantly

"Oh no they're biting him! And stealing his pants!" Iggins said.

"Dear God he'll be sucked into the turbines!" Mr. Smoch, assistant to Mr. Cartric head of darkness inside games said. Then the dummy was sucked to a gruesome end. Everyone except Gaz and Zim bowed their heads briefly in respect.

"Ha! I'm not dead! I'll catch them!" Dib said but Gaz and Zim flew off in Zim's Voot Runner.

"SHIT!" Dib yelled


	3. Chapter 2 Is anyone actually dead?

I don't own Invader Zim or Grim okay? Only Penelope, Serena, Suzee and Langdon are MINE!!!!!

"What am I going to do Serene? I don't want to arrest my sister but she broke Zim out of my containment chamber!" Dib moaned

"I know it's hard but do what is right Dad" Suzee said. She was built like her mother but her face was shaped like Dib's and she had Serena's green eyes. Her hair however pointed up and back like Dib's. She sat causally in her black skirt, red shirt, black and red striped tights and black boots on the couch drinking a Poop cola.

"I guess you're right Suzee" Dib said. At this time the doorbell rang. Serena got up and said, "I'll get it" at the door were scientists from Dib's lab. Simons was holding a newspaper with a headline that read Local Planetary hero loses pants, life and another article about Zim's escape.

"Can I help you?" Serena asked.

"We are so sorry" Simons said.

"About what?" Serena asked suspious

"Dib's passing-" Bill said. Serena stared at him blankly "-away-" Serena still stared as if she didn't know what he was talking about "-into death"

"Dib's not dead. He's right in the living room." Serena said leading them there, but Dib had left to go upstairs for a while.

"Oh, Dib's not dead! He's alive in all our hearts" Simons said.

"Oh yes Serena I can see him!" Bill said condescendingly. Then Langdon skipped by with his pointy red hair and said, "Hi everybody!" not aware of what was going on

"Serena I'll give you the card of a juvenile counselor." Bill said.

Throughout the day people came by, thinking Dib was, offering their condolences and memorials. At 8:00 that night Zim and Gaz rung the bell. Serena opened the door expecting a funeral wreath or bouquet of flowers. But it was…

"A tombstone!" Serena exclaimed. It read:

Dib S. Membrane

Born November 16th 1989

Died June 6th 2031

We are richer for losing him

"It came with the burial plot but that is not the point" Gaz said.

"I should have killed Dib-stink but hey. I offer my deepest sympathies to his pathetic mate." Zim said.

"Go away you horrible monsters!" Serena said. "Aye aye aye" and the power to her house was cut. "Oh now what!" she said and went outside where a man clipped the wires to her house.

"Sir I think there's been a mistake!" Serena pleaded

"Oh no mistake. Power's in the name of Professor Dib S. Membrane-deceased. Power stays off until you sign your name to it or get a generator. Oh and my deepest sympathies."

Serena walked inside and talked to Dib. "When I asked if that dummy was to fake your own death you said no!"

"But Serene I had to stop Zim and Gaz!" Dib pleaded.

"No you're sleeping on the couch tonight. And tomorrow you are going to town hall to straighten this out!"

The next day Dib went to the town hall and straightened it out. "Okay I'm Professor Dib Steven Membrane and you guys think I am dead but I am not! Now fix this without your burocratic red tape and mumbo jumbo!"

"Okay I made the change." The clerk said.

"I don't like your tone. Let me see the file I have a right to read it!" Dib demanded

"You sure do!" the clerk said happily

"Wife: Serena Children: Susannah, Langdon. Oh here who the hell is Gir Membrane?!!!!!!!?" After Dib captured Zim Suzee begged her father to keep Gir as a pet. Dib finally gave in to her. "He's harmless Dad and he's all alone!" she said with big puppy eyes. "Pleeeeese!" "Okay" Dib sighed.

"Your adoptive robot dog" The clerk said

"_Your adoptive robot dog_" Dib mocked "Right. Anyway this thing says my mother, Penelope Susannah Membrane, is still alive! She died when I was 2!" Dib said then took the clerk to a window facing a graveyard that Professor Membrane always showed Dib and Gaz. "See that stone angel? That is my mother's grave! My dad points it out every time we drive by!"

"Dr. Membrane maybe you should go up there and _look_ ?" The clerk said.

Dib ran out of the office stating to tear up and looked at the grave with reverence. " I'm sorry Mom I'm just not a cemetery person-" Dib wailed as he removed the ivy overgrowth on the grave " Here lies- John Harris! I hate you John Harris! Found Harrisburg my ass!" Dib said kicking the grave. When Dib was 13, Professor Membrane moved there to do research on the Chesapeake Basin and Three Mile Island. He claimed Dib and Gaz's mom was from there and called a random overgrowth covered grave hers.

Dib was living in Harrisburg ever since because he could not go back to New York with memories of his mother everywhere.

"Mon I wouldn't do dat if I was you!" Grim said hanging out in the graveyard like he always did. John Harris's ghost was right behind Dib mad.

"Defile my grave wills ya?" John Harris's ghost said strangling Dib.

"Okay… Maybe it's that other grave that one that says "Membrane"!" Dib said running to it but instead of Penelope S. Membrane it said Dib S. Membrane. " Oh God why does my death keep coming back to haunt me!??????!" Then Grim came over and as a cruel sick joke he pushed Dib in.

"OOOPS!!!!" Grim sarcastically yelled. When Grim left a woman with amber eyes and long gray hair with a violet tint came over.

"You awful awful man! Get out of my son's grave!" Penelope said.

"Hate to rain on your parade lady this is my grave" Dib said getting up brushing off his pants. "Wait a minute mom?"

"Dibby?" Penelope asked.

"I thought you were dead!" Dib cried with joy. Here was his mother, the woman he admired in life. She was dead in his mind but here she was in corporal form alive.

"I thought you were dead!" Penelope said hugging Dib as a mother would.

"Dang isn't anyone in dis cemetery actually _dead?_" Grim said.

"I didn't want to cause a fuss but now that you mention it…" Billy said as his coffin was lowered.


	4. Chapter 3 Grandma Membrane

I don't own Invader Zim okay? The OC's are Penelope, Serena, Suzee, and Langdon. They are mine.

"Dibby you grew up so handsomely." Penelope cried. Ever since she left she longed for the day she would hug her only son again. A humid breeze blew off the river. Dib didn't care that he was head to toe in black in the middle of a Pennsylvania summer. Penelope's hug was the best air conditioner he could ever have known.

"I can't believe you're here! Dad always told me you were killed in a drive by shooting!" Dib said with tears of joy in his amber eyes that were just like his mother's. All of a sudden Dib remembered a question plaguing him since he heard Penelope first accuse him of being a bum who slept in open graves.

"You must have been so upset. But I guess Thaddeus had his reasons." Penelope sighed.

"Where have you been for the past 40 years?" Dib asked.

"Oh, it's a complicated story. Let's just enjoy this moment." Penelope said. Her long violet-gray hair fell on Dib's shoulders as she pulled him closer.

"How did you know where to find me?" Dib asked giving himself some room between them. He loved his mother but she was suffocating him. Also if she wasn't going to answer his first question, he'd get some answers from the woman he admired in life.

"You're more famous than your father remember?" Penelope said putting a finger on Dib's nose. She had to look up a little and stand on her toes. Dib grew to be 5' 11" but after 67 years Penelope was only 5' 4" after shrinking 2 inches due to old age. Plus the fact that Dib was wearing boots that made him 6' 2" didn't help.

"Well you have got to meet Serena, Suzee and Langdon!" Dib said overjoyed.

"Did you get a hold of some peanut butter on toast again?" Penelope laughed as Dib lead her to his car. When Dib was a child, Professor Membrane made breakfast one day while Penelope was pregnant with Gaz. Professor Membrane made Dib some toast and juice and he put peanut butter on the toast. The rest of the day Dib was a total spaz. Until he was 13 if he ate peanut butter on toast, he'd get hyper.

"No the only thing I had all day was a tofu dog and some curly fries." Dib said getting in and buckling up. Dib had become a vegetarian ever since Zim tried to turn him into a bologna.

"Well what makes a child hyper won't neccarly make the adult hyper." Penelope said buckling up and listening to Dib's stereo play "Numb" by Linkin Park. Dib started the car and turned on the AC. Penelope felt her sweat drenched hair start to cool off.

"So has your last 40 years been?" She asked.

"Oh everyone knows. I have 888 biographies to Dad's 777" Dib laughed shifting gears in his Mercedes-Benz.

"And Thaddeus's 777 are no where near the truth." Penelope whispered.

The Harrisburg scenery passed by and Penelope just took in all that Dib grew up to be. "So what happened between you and Dad? Obviously you were unhappy but what?" Dib asked breaking the silence.

"Oh we were just too different. He was nice when we met but after Gaz was born he changed." Penelope said hoping that she would never have to reveal the true reason for her absence.

"Oh." Dib said pulling into his driveway. "Well my family will be happy to see you." and the sound of the turn signal and Blink 182's "Aliens Exist" were silenced.

"You car's quiet." Penelope observed.

"Best ethanol Benz money can buy." Dib said proudly. He opened the door in a stealthy fashion. "Serena I have some one very important to me for you to meet," Dib took Penelope's hand and pulled her inside. "Presenting my mother!" a hush fell over the room as everyone gasped. "This is my lovely wife Serena I was telling you about."

"Wow! I finally have a mother-in-law! No more living vicariously through my girlfriends!" Serena laughed in an awkward way.

"Wow this just like that one episode of the Simpsons, or like a J.K. Rowling book!" Langdon said.

"Where you been Granny? Grandpa freeze you or something?" Suzee asked.

"My you two are such clever grandchildren! So full of questions and bright shinny eyes!" Penelope said noticing that Suzee had her father's eyes and Langdon's eyes, although they were the same green color as Serena's, had the same glint that Dib's had.

"Hey since you were a no show at all the big moments of my life, you owe me years of back presents. Christmases. Birthdays. Easters. Good report cards. Kwanzaas. My Bar Mitzvah. Let's see $75 a pop plus interest and penalties," She calculated on the calculator she got for her last birthday, "you owe me...$230,777"

"I'll Kwanzaa and Bar Mitzvah you!" Dib said getting ready to strangle Suzee like Homer Simpson did to Bart.

"Dib don't be so harsh on little-What's her name?" Penelope said.

"That's Suzee and the redhead is Langdon." Dib said.

Then he took her on a tour of his house. He showed his lab were he did his paranormal studies, the living room, dining room and so on. Once in Serena and his room, he showed her his wardrobe. "This is my closet. This where I keep my trench coats when I'm not wearing them."

"Oh yes. Right on the hangers." Penelope laughed.

"I miss moments like this Mom." Dib said hugging her. It was nice to be reunited with her son but as she looked at Dib's astronomy PhD, she decided to meet up with the grandkids.

"I want to go meet up with your children. I'll see you Dib." Penelope said.

She walked by Langdon's room and saw his many academic honors, and a few paranormal ones and a few honors from The Swollen Eyeball. She looked outside and saw Langdon looking at a footprint in the mud by street.

"I saw all your awards Langdon and they're mighty impressive." Penelope said walking up to him.

"I keep them out to bug Suzee." Langdon said modestly.

"Don't be bashful," Then Dib came by walking on his hands saying, "Look what I can do Mom!" "I see you honey that's very nice. Anyway when I was 13, around your age, kids made fun of me for reading at a college level," Dib interrupted again, " Mom you're not looking!"

"Me too!" Langdon said.

"Although I hardly consider The Great Gatsby college level." Penelope said.

"More like preschool." Langdon laughed.

"I hate F. Scott Fitzgerald." Penelope said in a matter of fact quick way.

"Me too." Langdon said in the same way.

"You know Langdon I feel I have an instant rapport with you." She said.

"You didn't dumb it down! You said rapport!" Langdon said. Then during the hug, a police car was spotted in the corner of Penelope's eye. She had a shady past that she could get caught for. "Gotta run. Grandma stuff." and she hid in the house.

_Something isn't right._ Langdon thought as he watched his long violet-gray haired grandmother in the long black skirt and blue shirt with a black one underneath it and flats run in the house.


	5. Chapter 4 Secrets revealed

I don't own Invader Zim okay? Serena, Suzee, Langdon and Penelope are mine though.

It was 6:00 AM. The alarm of Professor Membrane's clock buzzed annoyingly. He raised his wrinkled, scared, time ravaged hand to turn it off. He was going to have a quick breakfast at McDonald's like he did every morning and then head to his son's grave. Never did he think that Dib would die before him. He was the first to die in his mind. He knew full well that Penelope was alive and in the past 40 years he was unfaithful to her.

He got out of bed and took a shower, got dressed in his usual white lab coat and put in his dentures. 72 years had not been kind to him. His pointy hair had turned from black to gray, his only nearsighted vision developed much worse and he lost his teeth. The worst of all, he started to develop Alzheimer's disease. It was because of this that Dib and Serena put him in a retirement home._ Reduced to this. I was the great Professor T.J. Membrane. Now I'm some shmuck who has condescending skank nurses hand out pills like candy._ He thought as he took the bus to McDonald's to meet his best friend and old assistant, Simmons.

"T.J. grave news." Simmons said.

"Yes I know. My son is dead and his wife runs the Membrane Empire until Langdon gets a PhD. in a real science or the paranormal. Dib added that part to the legacy." Professor Membrane said sipping the decaf coffee Simmons had bought him.

"No. Penelope told your son the truth. Which means that they can use that against you." Simmons said.

"What's it matter?" Professor Membrane asked.

"Dib's not dead. I went to the grave and saw everything. Unlike you, I read in between the lines. Both Dib and Penelope are alive. We have 2 options: expose her to Dib as the criminal she is or take her out." Simmons said making a gun with his fingers and doing a shooting motion.

"Why's it always shooting someone with you?" Professor Membrane asked.

_At Dib's house..._

Langdon took his suspicions to his sister who had similar ones.

"Grandma doesn't seem like Grandmother-Chan." Suzee said. Serena's mother was Japanese. "Penelope has a How to Escape the Fuzz book in her purse."

"Makes sense. A cop car pulled by and she ran inside." Langdon said in a Sherlock Homes Manner.

"We've got to tell Dad Penelope's a con artist! Any con would love a stab at the Membrane fortune!" Suzee said. The Membrane name was worth a lot. Dib had inherited his father's labs and he would inherit half of his 77.7 billion dollar fortune that would go between Dib and Gaz. If a con artist could convince Dib, she was his mother they'd have an easy ticket to the fortune. "We have to tell Dad!" Suzee gasped.

"We're going now!" Langdon said pulling Suzee's hand and running from Langdon's room to their Dad's lab where they met with their mother. "Hi Mom! We have suspicions about Penol-"

"I know I tried to talk to your father about it but he won't listen to me! We'll have to talk to Penelope." Serena said. "Dib come with me. We need to talk about that bum you brought home."

"Mommy is not a bum! She was a brilliant pediatrician in her day!" Dib yelled stomping his foot.

"We are getting 'Penelope' to talk." Serena said dragging Dib upstairs to the room where Penelope was reading Fight Club by Chuck Palahinuk. "Penelope Membrane you owe your son a reason why you haven't been there for 40 years of not being there!"

"Uhh...look an alien!" Penelope said.

"Very funny Mom! Now where were you?!" Dib demanded.

"I never thought I would have to tell you this but it all starts with Desert Storm I in 1991. Hair bands were out and Grunge was making its way in. Your father and I were married for 4 years then. When I first met Thaddeus, he was the nicest man a woman could ask for but all that changed one night after I put you and Gaz to bed." Penelope said taking a breath. "Your father was developing chemical and germ warfare I couldn't stand for. Simmons and Mr. Burns put him to it. If it weren't for them I'd never have done what I did. You want to know where The Membrane fortune came from; it was the insurance on the lab that I destroyed. I found out what he was doing late at night and I had to put a stop to it. There was a group of his students who wanted to stop it too."

"What do you mean by 'his students' Penelope?" Suzee asked.

"Thaddeus picked 50 of the top students in the nation to study with him. 15 or so wanted to stop his warfare plans. As his wife, I knew everything and they asked me for help. We destroyed the germs with the antibiotics I had unfortunately made one batch of. Simmons was nearby when the alarm went off. I was always young looking for my age and he didn't see me as Penelope Membrane at first. He saw me as one of the students but when he'd tell Thaddeus, he'd rat me out. Your father isn't that stupid. It would be horrible. I had to leave!" Penelope cried.

"No you didn't! You should have stood up for yourself!" Serena said.

"Wait what would have Dad done?" Dib asked.

"Best case scenario, divorce me, worst case would be he'd have Simmons have me shot. Simon Simmons was raised by gun lovers and he became one himself." Penelope said.

"I know the truth that doesn't mean I forgive you. You don't know what I've suffered. Around 30 years of ridicule, and 2 mental hospital stays. Part of it has to stem form the fact I had no loving Parental figure. My mother ran off and my father wasn't there." Dib said walking off to his lab.

"I deserve nothing less." Penelope stated.

"Dib aren't you being a little harsh?" Serena asked.

"I don't know anything anymore." Dib said plainly, not looking back.

_Simmons's apartment..._

"Here it is my grandfather's old Winchester. Be careful it's loaded." Simmons said picking up an old gun.

"I don't know..." Professor Membrane said holding the gun like a piece of filthy laundry.


	6. Chapter 5 Bitter reunions

I only own the OCs okay?

"Come on T.J., think about it. She ruined your life." Simmons said as Professor Membrane clutched the gun in his hand. "She let the government down, ruined your chance to be a military scientist and let's not forget she left you to raise Dib and Gaz _alone_. Think how that cut into your career T.J."

"Still are you sure the murder of Penelope will solve it?" Professor Membrane asked.

"Positive." Simmons said turning around and walking to his easy chair relaxing.

"Simmons this doesn't feel right." Professor Membrane said putting the gun down.

"Okay _Timothy Jonah Membrane_" Simmons said. He was referring to Professor Membrane's Pastor father who had the same initials. " I thought I was talking to your son T.J., you know Professor Thaddeus Jonas Membrane." He looked back with an antagonizing smirk.

"Simmons I'm not trying to be like my father but I find it hard to see how killing my wife will solve all that." Professor Membrane said putting his hand on the desk.

"T.J. keep the gun. But you should see your family today." Simmons said trying to get Professor Membrane to get revenge on Penelope. Actually, Simmons wanted to get revenge on Penelope and he was just using Professor Membrane to get his revenge.

"Should I really? I mean Dib hasn't spoken to me in a few years!" He was exaggerating, but Dib still hadn't talked to him for a while.

Simmons just sighed. This wasn't the T.J. Membrane he remembered. The T.J. he knew was up for anything without questioning right or wrong. "T.J. the althimerzer's has really got to you! This is right! Remember back in 1985 how we'd paint Manhattan red?! We were the bad boys of NYU!"

"Yes but we were 26 then! We're 72 now! This isn't what men our age do!" Professor Membrane said.

"Well go on. I'll drive you to Dib's house. I'm sure Penelope'll be there. Dib is probably all happy he met his mother." Simmons said bitterly. _But he won't be happy for long, not after T.J. gets through with her._ Simmons thought and then started to laugh manically.

"Simmons what's up with you?" Professor Membrane asked.

"Oh nothing. Nothing at all." Simmons said covering up for the fact he was a homicidal maniac.

However Simmons was wrong about Dib being happy his mother was back. He wouldn't talk to her at all. "You know I tried to tell you and Gaz the truth." Penelope said apologetically to Dib.

"So. We never got them. Like you tried." Dib said bitterly.

"Dib stop being so harsh! I honestly believe Penelope is your mother! She told me that you, her first-born child, was a C-section due to your head! Langdon was the same way!" Serena said angered.

"A lot of women have C sections." Dib said simply.

"Fine. I didn't want to have to do this but-" Serena said as she pulled one of Dib and Penelope's hairs. Then she went to Dib's labs and put Dib and Penelope's hairs in along with a rag with Professor Membrane's snot in the computer. " Computer do a paternity test. Check the combination of Penelope Susannah Membrane and Thaddeus Jonas Membrane's to Dib Steven Membrane's DNA!"

"Analyzing..." The computer said. " Match. The combination of Penelope Susannah Membrane and Thaddeus Jonas Membrane's DNA matches Dib Steven Membrane's Chance of error .0000001" Serena printed the results and handed it to Dib. " See Penelope is your mother. I knew it after talking with her. She has your determination and the eyes were a _**dead**_ giveaway. Call it mother's intuition."

"I'm sorry." Dib said.

"You should be." Serena said. Just then Suzee looked out the window and yelled, "Grandma hide!" A thump was heard on the door and Suzee shut the curtains. Penelope hid behind the sofa and Dib, Serena, Suzee and Langdon ran to the front door. The door burst open to reveal Professor Membrane. " No door is gonna keep me from my meddling! Suzee stand up straight! You're a Membrane have some family pride!"

"Thaddeus?" Penelope asked.

"What the- of all the things to come back and bite me in the ass!" He said as he pulled a squirrel from his butt.

"Thaddeus you aged terribly." Penelope said sweetly, running her hand on his wrinkled cheek.

"What do you expect!????! You left me to raise Crazy and Angry by myself!" Professor Membrane yelled.

"I had to leave! But you didn't have to tell Dib and Gaz I was dead! Call them Dib and Gaz! They do have names! You made them 'Crazy and Angry'! " Penelope yelled. She had an intense loathing for her husband at that time.

"Well it was that or tell them that their mother was a _**wanted criminal!!!**_ You were a rotten wife and I'll never ever forgive you!" Professor Membrane said with his hand on the gun in his pocket. Then he let go of the gun. "Can we have sex _pleeese?"_

"Oh Thaddeus you pig!" Penelope moaned grossed out.

"Well can't blame a guy for trying? What's for supper?" Professor Membrane said with his libido of a 20-year-old fraternity guy. He was still wrestling morally with revenge.

"He didn't do it yet!" Simmons moaned from the bushes. "Professor Pervert just asked her for sex! How could I forget T.J. was like that?!!!!"


	7. Chapter 6 Tied Up Loose Ends

See any and all previous chapters for the disclaimers okay? And this ending isn't going to be too happy.

Dib's living room was filled with tension. Penelope had blocked Professor Membrane's exit to demand how he raised Dib and Gaz, her most proud accomplishment in life. Dib was at the point that he lost any respect he had for his father and all the respect he had for his mother. He was told that his mother was a noble and respectable woman. Now he finds that she just up and left because she had a fight with his father. It was true that it wasn't just the fight but what she did that did it.

"Mom, if you must know, Dad didn't do much better of a job of raising us than you did. I'll give him this though; he was there one way or another. Actually, looking back even through the recordings and such, at least he TRIED! But what does the great Penelope Membrane turn out to be? A rebel who uses the destruction of her husband's germ warfare lab for an excuse to run off and leave him with the kids." Dib yelled in a rage. It had taken him 40 years but he had his life the way he wanted it to be. Now he had to put the last pieces of his past behind him to move on.

"Dib Steven Membrane! I can not believe my ears! Are you actually defending your father in what he did?" Penelope asked as she took a step back. When she first reunited with Dib it was the best thing in the world to him, but the other factors sunk in. He realized how things were when she left.

"I'm not saying either one of you is entirely right or wrong. Mom I have one thing to show you how much you meant to me-"Dib said as he took his shirt off to show her the tattoo of her as a guardian angel he had on his back.

"Dad put your shirt back on!" Suzee said creeped out as she sat on the window ledge.

"-I had to explain this to Serena when we got together but she understood. I got this on my 18th birthday as a tribute to the woman I respected the most in my life. You were the one who inspired me. I wanted to live up to your legend." Dib put his shirt back on and Suzee stopped making throwing up noises. "I see it clearly now. You and Dad were on the verge of splitting up and you saw us as the biggest mistake of your life! I don't think I can respect a mother like that."

Penelope slunk back to the edge of the room and cried her heart out. Serena stood off to the side taking in all that she could. "Dibby, aren't you being a little too harsh on your mother again?"

"Oh you can say that Serene but you had a normal family, mom, dad, brothers and sisters living in perfect harmony. What I wouldn't have given to have a family like that! But I had to make due with what I had and that was a mother gone and an oaf of a father. I'm surprised I turned out decent."

"But Dib I want that again!" Penelope cried as she looked into Dib's eyes and saw not her son but a demon of hate in them. Over the years on the run, she had heard things from "He's nuts" to "He's Earth's greatest hero" This Dib she saw then and there was not the one she heard about. The last time she saw Dib in person was in the sidelines when he received "Greatest Person Ever to Live" by the Releflecting pond in Washington. He didn't seem this way when she saw him then. "What happened to the Dib I knew?"

"Ummmmmm he grew up. The Dib you knew last was when I was 2!" Dib yelled. "Now Mom, I do not feel like being the crux of a messed up marriage or whatever is going on."

"Okay I've had enough! Dib, Penelope, Grandpa," Serena called Professor Membrane 'Grandpa' ever since the day Suzee was born. Professor Membrane didn't really care for that. He wasn't Serena's grandfather so he took it as an insult on his age. "Let's settle this like the adults we are supposed to be!" She noticed Langdon's pointy red hair and big head with Suzee's long black hair on his head and the scythe of her hair peeking in over the door way. "Suzee, Langdon, go to your rooms!" They sulked off while Suzee mumbled a series of Japanese swears she learned from her grandmother on her mother's side. "I heard that young lady! Well let's get the full back story. What happened what was May 1991 like at the Membrane home?"

"Well tensions were at their peak. We were truly on the verge of divorce but I couldn't have that. It would scar my reputation and Penny'd have half my assets." Professor Membrane said.

"So you guys were a sham marriage at the time?" Dib asked simply.

"We were more than that! I loved your father!" Penelope yelled trying to redeem herself to Dib.

"Obviously not. You left us all alone." Dib sassed. Serena was getting annoyed at Dib. She decided to make him sleep on the couch that night but she had to settle this matter to keep the peace. Serena was a master of ending fights and calmed even Gaz down once. Dib was proving to be quite a challenge.

"DIB JUST SHUT UP!" Serena said. Professor Membrane took this chance and spoke up.

"Now son don't get me wrong I loved your mother then, but after 40 years of her anger towards me, I just can't love her anymore. Our marriage was failing and if she hadn't destroyed my germ lab, you'd probably have 2 sets of parents. As I near my deathbed, I realized that we just will not be able to heal some of these wounds. Penny thinks we can. Well Dib this is up to you. We can't make you forgive us but I want you to hear that if given the chance, I would go back and be there for you and even never work for germ warfare so you kids could have had a mother. We're both to blame and I can say I'm sorry." Professor Membrane said pensively.

"I am sorry too my little Dibby. Can you forgive your father and me?" Penelope asked looking into the eyes of the demon that was in Dib at the time.

"I accept your apology but I can't forgive you right now." Dib sighed.

"That's all I needed. I love you Dib." Penelope said hugging Dib.

"I love you too Mom, it's just so hard at times. It will not be easy to just forgive and forget." Dib said as his mother pulled away from him.

"I know it won't. We both need time." Penelope said as she walked out the door.

"Mom where you going this time?" Dib asked as he ran after her.

"Back to my apartment 2 towns over. If you ever need to visit, come anytime." Penelope said as she smiled and walked off.

"Maybe someday Mom, maybe someday." Dib said blandly and shut the door.

_**The End**_

(See. It wasn't all warm lovely reunion was it? Rather cold in a way.)


End file.
